Polymers having pendant sugar moieties known as “glycopolymers” (Bioconj. Chem., 3:256 (1992)) have attracted much interest in recent years, largely as scaffolds for the multi-valent display of biologically important carbohydrate molecules. These glycopolymers have been used as potent inhibitors of viral-host cell attachment and leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion (FEBS, 272:209 (1990); Can. J. Microbiol., 37:233 (1991); J. Am. Chem. Soc., 119:3161 (1997)). Glycopolymers have also been explored as vehicles for targeted drug and gene delivery (J. Hepatology, 21:806 (1994)), and as artificial substrates for cell adhesion (J. Cell Biol., 115:485 (1991)). The suitability of glycopolymers as biocompatible implant materials has been relatively unexplored and is limited to a few examples described, for example, in Microbiol. Chem. Phys., 195:3597 (1994).
For polymers used as biocompatible implant materials, their properties, particularly the surface composition, are of great importance. Efforts include introducing biocompatible components into the bulk system and on their surface. Studies described, for example, in J. Colloid Interface Sci., 149:84 (1992) have shown that copolymers with a pendant glucose unit in the bulk or surfaces with covalently bound neutral polysaccharides demonstrate the reduction of platelet adhesion and protein adsorption.
Accordingly, biocompatible polymeric materials that are easily prepared would be useful for drug delivery and other biomedical uses.